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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- rosemartina02@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Adeline George <georgeadeline08@gmail.com>
Reply-To: rossi.martina002@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:15:44 +0200
Subject: Good day to you,
--
*Good day to you,*
*I am writing to you on behalf of our cancer patient who gave me your email
address to send this message to you.She said that she have a confidential
information to give you and have an important issue to discuss with you
urgently so please try as much as possible to reply to her through her
private email address. (rosemartina02@gmail.com
<rosemartina02@gmail.com>)Her name is Reverend Sister Martina Rossi, an
Italian citizen but served at Cathedral of the De. Espirit Abidjan Cote D'
Ivoire here , she is 67 years old suffering from chronic urinary tract
cancer. From all indications, her condition is really deteriorating and is
quite obvious that she may not live more than two months after her next
surgery scheduled to be held in UK which her personal physician told her
that she may not live for more than 2 months and she is so scared about it
and she gave me your email address to send this urgent message to you so
that you can contact her directly.Please try to contact her immediately
through her private email address (rosemartina02@gmail.com
<rosemartina02@gmail.com>) in other to hear from her directly as she told
me that she need to reach you as soon as possible regards to a deposit of
2.9 million Euros meant for charity and missionary in your
country.ThanksNurse Adeline George *
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Anti-fraud resources:
